


Red-Handed

by inalasahl



Category: Firefly
Genre: F/F, Worst-Case Scenario Challenge
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2005-09-20
Updated: 2005-09-20
Packaged: 2017-11-02 02:19:58
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 518
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/363923
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/inalasahl/pseuds/inalasahl
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Someone's trying to get Kaylee's attention.</p>
            </blockquote>





	Red-Handed

**Author's Note:**

> Much love and thanks to llaras for the quicker than whoa beta. I wrote this for [the Worst-Case Scenario challenge.](http://www.livejournal.com/users/slodwick/525462.html). My challenge was [How to Create an Entry Alarm.](http://img.photobucket.com/albums/1003/inalasahl/ce4ae665.jpg)

There is a thief on board Serenity.

Kaylee can't find her hairbrush and her favorite spanner. But nobody believes her when she says that someone must have taken them. "No one's going to take your spanner, Kaylee," Mal mutters. "No one even knows what a spanner is. If you can't fix the problem, just say so. I know you do your best." 

Inara's sympathy is just as bad somehow. "I can brush your hair for you," she offers. 

Kaylee stomps away. "I just want my own brush back!" 

No one believes Kaylee until the sign on her room disappears. Wash and Jayne snicker all day long until Kaylee decides it's a good day to hammer out some dents in the deck plating with enthusiasm. The banging relieves her frustration and shushes the snickerers. They both know better than to tease a woman with a weapon. Zoe winks at Kaylee as she passes by, and Kaylee narrows her eyes considering, but she can't think of a reason Zoe would take her hairbrush. 

She wakes one morning to find that someone snuck into her room in the middle of the night and turned everything around back to front before making off with her recorder. 

Not tonight, Kaylee decides, clutching the box of boysenberries she bought with her pay. She hides the box under her bed, but decides that it's precious enough to require extra measures. Before bed, she rigs a string of clattery things to her door. If someone pushes it open, the string will jangle. No one comes between Kaylee and fresh fruit. 

The clang of a cowbell jars Kaylee from sleep. "Caught you!" she mumbles delightedly, springing from her bed. She should have turned on the light, she thinks, but she's got to hurry, hurry. The thief will be backing out of the doorway, running down the hall, disappearing into some other part of the ship. 

She gropes for the ladder in the dark, squeaking when her seeking hands grasp something infinitely softer than a ladder. Something small and round and warm. Kaylee's not a blusher, but she feels an overwhelming urge to apologize, instantly recognizing that she's just tweaked River's breast. 

"You're the thief?" Kaylee asks. Of course, River's the only one who could have gotten into Kaylee's room quiet enough to move everything. She should have thought of it before. Kaylee smells berry juice in the air, and realizes that River has already made it to the box and back to the ladder. She rang the bell deliberately. "Wha — why?" 

River steps closer in the dark, pressing against Kaylee. She feels wet fingertips against her lips. Her tongue flicks out automatically, licking lovably soft hands that taste of sugar and salt, catching the juice that drips along them. River pulls her hand away. Wrapping it around Kaylee's neck, she pulls them flush against each other. Kaylee's mouth angles, seeking, and she moans as River nibbles at her lip: tiny, tiny kisses that leave Kaylee breathless. 

With a shock, Kaylee realizes that River tastes better than berries. "Caught you," River whispers against Kaylee's mouth. "Caught you." 

Finis

**Author's Note:**

> Rated for kissing and an accidental grope.


End file.
